Now that the queen has done so, Prime Minister Theresa May is free to begin the actual process whenever she feels it’s best, according to NewsTalk. The process of leaving the EU is a lengthy one, and will reportedly take two years to complete.

Brexit Secretary David Davis told the BBC that the process would begin before April.

“By the end of the month, we will invoke Article 50, allowing us to start our negotiations to build a positive new partnership with our friends and neighbors in the European Union, as well as taking a step out into the world as a truly Global Britain,” he said.

May called the vote to pass the Brexit bill the beginning of a new era for the United Kingdom.

“This will be a defining moment for our whole country as we begin to forge a new relationship with Europe but also a new role for ourselves in the world,” she said earlier this week, after the Brexit bill passed the House of Commons, according to The Economic Times. “We will be a strong, self-governing, global Britain with control once again over our borders and our laws.”

In what might seem like a historical irony, the Brexit bill’s passage, and Elizabeth’s approval, came virtually on the eve of an informal summit marking the 60th anniversary of the beginning of the European Economic Community in the Treaties of Rome, according to the BBC. The European Economic Community entered the history books when it became the European Union.

Now, Brexit is making its own place in the history books, and hopefully it will be successful enough to be used by conservatives for years to come as one of the great efforts made to prevent global government eroding the sovereignty of independent nations.